Drying is one of the most frequently used operations across the food processing sector and is critical to the safety, quality and functionality of many food products and ingredients. However, it is one of the most energy-intensive processes and is often poorly understood and inefficient.

This course is held in collaboration with Dennis Forte & Associates and aims to give participants an understanding of drying technologies commonly used across the food industry and how we can improve current processes and products and design/select new systems that are safe, effective and efficient.

The program combines the practical experience and in-depth technical knowledge of industry professionals and CSIRO. It was first run at Werribee in March 2016, and has received ongoing very positive feedback from participants.

We will present basic drying theory, how the theory relates to practical application and systems currently used in the food industry. We will then go on to discuss water activity in foods and how it relates to both the quality/preservation of products and the efficiency of the drying process.

Principles of psychrometrics will be combined with heat and mass balance techniques to analyse and design drying processes, demonstrated using practical examples.

On Day 2, we will explain more advanced drying concepts, using practical examples to demonstrate how drying curves can be modelled and predicted based on real data. Quality issues in dried products will also be discussed in more detail, and case studies presented to show how a range of drying processes can be improved.